Facade (Draco Malfoy - Muggle AU set in the 1920s)
by ConsultingNovelist
Summary: Nina-Jade Riley was a mysterious middle class girl who stood in the corner of the bar where Draco spent his nights corresponding with other rich young men like himself. He noticed her often. Everybody did, but it wasn't until the two actually spoke that it became apparent to Draco how different Nina-Jade really was to all the other girls he'd met before.


Rooty's was a large bar in the city of Bycrest, England where many would spend their nights during the years of 1923 through 1925 and New Years Eve was no exception.  
Everybody who lived within miles of the place would crowd through the doors to make sure that they missed nothing.  
Everything that happened in Bycrest happened in Rooty's and it was always the place to be 24/7.

The thing about Rooty's was that it wasn't filled with people of the same class, gender, race or any other classification.  
Everybody was there and most were content in each other's company, apart from the richest of the rich who kept themselves busy chatting about finances and business.

Draco Malfoy was among these young men and was of course present on that night.  
Draco thought that attending parties was a waste of time but he was forced to do it by his parents.  
How else was he going to meet many like himself and possibly get business partnerships with them?  
And more importantly, how would he ever find an eligible young woman to marry?

Draco had met many girls over the years who his parents thought to be well bred, obedient and beautiful, but he had never taken a particular interest in any of them .  
He told his mother that they were not his type, which was true in a sense, but she thought that her son meant their looks, whereas he really meant their personality.  
The girls were often stuck up, boring and although most other men didn't think this was possible, _too obedient._

Draco thought that he would never meet a girl who suited him and he knew that even if he did he would never be permitted to marry her.  
'Why, you want to marry a woman with a _brain, _Draco? How preposterous."

At the opposite side of Rooty's, middle class Nina-Jade Riley was truly living the life that so many other girls would kill for.  
She would lean against the wall, holding a whiskey in her hand and attract looks from the males and females.  
She held herself with an aura of pride and self-importance, which often made people think her unapproachable and immoral.  
Nina never minded about the attention, though. In fact she used it to her advantage.  
She had such a power over all the people in the room that little girls who heard of her from their older siblings aspired to one day have, although Nina was the only one to have ever achieved it.

She would turn about the room occasionally, and on her way she would stop at a table and beat men at poker who didn't even think that a woman could string together a coherent sentence without a father, brother, husband or boyfriend there to tell her what to say.  
Some men loathed her for this and others chased after her.  
Nina rarely paid heed to their begs for her attention, though as she never gave anybody or anything her attention for very long.  
Any relationship that a person managed to gain with Nina-Jade was soon tossed into the wind by her, as if it had meant nothing and mattered no longer.

On New Years eve, despite the lively atmosphere and the party that was going on in the other parts of the room, it was particularly quiet in Draco Malfoy's corner of the room. In fact it was always like this.  
No matter what was going on around them, the rich men would have civilised business conversations while everybody else in the room got stupidly drunk and had fun.

Over in the other side of the room, where Nina would be, it was as lively as ever.  
She was talking to a blonde dancer called Rosie, who was one of the few friends that Nina actually had.  
"Any of the soldiers catching your eye Nina-Jade?" Rosie teased, elbowing her friend playfully.  
"Not in the slightest." Nina growled, taking a drag of her cigarette before handing it to Rosie.  
"Thanks." Rosie mumbled, after catching the lit cigarette between her lips.

Rosie or Roseline Mars came from a picture perfect family and was quite and shy as a child, but when her parents would not allow her to marry Daryll, the poor man who she loved, she ran away from home with him and became a very different person.  
When the money that Rosie had taken from her family ran out, she and Daryll fell into a lot of money troubles, but she was too in love to care.  
They were fairly happy apart from the money struggles but that all changed when the vodka company that Daryll worked in started making a huge profit and he left Rosie without a word of goodbye.  
Rosie became even poorer than before, but life got better quickly when she found her loving grandparents in London who took her in and helped her find her feet again before they died and she moved to Bycrest.

Many assumed that these tragic events were the reason that a woman of such a good home and such a respectable family as Roseline Mars would find herself in the company of the mysterious and trouble-making Nina-Jade Riley.  
Nina had a rich family too, but nobody would guess from the way she acted. Most thought that she only afforded the beautiful clothes she wore from stripping or prostitution, which were in fact two things which Nina would never consider.  
Her father did not like how thoughtful and outgoing she was as he was very much against women's rights, but her mother divorced him when she caught him having an affair. Nina was twelve at the time, but it didn't make much difference to her life because her father figure had always been the butler, as he was around much more often than her father was and was much nicer to her.

The two girls were leaning against the bar, Rosie basking in the attention that her bright blue eyes and gorgeous figure were bringing to her and Nina completely disregarding the attention that her fiery red hair and near perfect bone structure were bringing to her.  
"Oh come on!" Rosie squeaked. "Surely one of these men would do as a dancing partner just for tonight!"  
"If the only reason you're doing this is because leaving me alone while you dance makes you feel bad, then I assure you that I will be fine."  
"Okay, okay." Rosie held up her hands in surrender and walked off, knowing it was better not to argue with Nina.  
Rosie then walked into the middle of the room and Nina watched as some random man pulled her into dance.  
She couldn't help thinking that if that had been her, she would have turned around and broke the man's nose.

"Can I get you a drink missy?" Nina heard a cheery Irish accent ask.  
She whipped around and grinned at her best friend, who was a waiter in Rooty's.  
"I'll take everything you've got Seamus. I want to be as drunk as possible when Rosie makes me dance with somebody!" Nina joked, throwing an arm around Seamus' shoulders.  
"Something tells me that drunk Nina isn't a person who I'd like to meet."  
"Why don't we find out? I bet I could beat you in a shot contest!"  
"Oh no! I may be Irish but I'm above getting drunk at work, my dear."  
"Aw, pleeeaaaasssseee!"  
"No, now do you want a drink or should I just go?"  
"You should probably go. I'm getting out of here before Rosie comes back."  
"Alright. I'll see you around." Seamus wandered off then Nina gathered up her belongings and ran over to her driver Gordon and pulled him outside with her to the blue Ford model T that was parked outside.  
"I think I'll have another cigarette before we go, if you don't mind." Nina smiled and held out her hand then Gordon set a fresh cigarette in her hand. "Thanks."

Draco pushed through the crowds, trying to get outside to get some air.  
It had started to get very stuffy inside the bar and he was growing tired of the conversations that his friends and business partners were having.  
He tried to avoid all the people he knew or recognised as he didn't feel like talking to anybody on his way out.  
When he reached the door, he was relieved.  
Upon exiting, he noticed the red haired girl leaning against the wall immediately.  
"Hello." he mumbled awkwardly as he paced back and forth in the street.  
"Evening." Nina looked up at Draco, smirking.  
"Great party, don't you think?"  
Nina shrugged. "I've been to better."  
"You go to a lot of parties then?"  
"Well, my friend Rosie drags me out to a lot of parties."  
"Hm, I go to a lot too." Draco struggled, trying to think of something to say next. "What's your name? We might bump into each other again someday."  
"Nina-Jade Riley."  
"Draco Malfoy." he offered his hand to Nina, but pulled away when she ignored the gesture.  
Nina started to take longer and more frequent drags of her cigarette to finish it faster.

"Well, I have to go Draco, it was nice meeting you, I guess?" Nina threw down her cigarette, crushed it with her heel and started walking away.  
"Oh- eh, well goodbye then Nina-Jade! I hope to see you again!" Then Nina was gone in the Ford model T.

"Was that the Malfoy boy you were talking to?" Gordon asked as he drove Nina home.  
"Yes. Which is why I wanted to end conversation with him as quickly as possible."  
"I thought that they were a very respectable family."  
"I don't know Gordon. I've heard all sorts of rumors about him."  
"Maybe they're just rumors."  
"I'm not about to take any chances. If things go my way I'll never meet Draco Malfoy again.

Nina-Jade knew, of course, that nothing ever goes her way.

**A/N - Sorry if there is any inaccuracies involving the time period, I have only just started researching. **


End file.
